Canastota child killer gets 23 years in state prison

John Berry / The Post-StandardJesse Snow (right) speaks with public defender Paul Hadley today after he was sentenced in Madison County Court to 23 years in prison for killing 3-year-old Aadon Olmsted.

Courtesy of Olmsted familyAadon Olmsted, 3, is shown in a family photo.

Wampsville, NY -- Jesse Snow was sentenced in Madison County Court today to 23 years in state prison on charges that he killed a 3-year-old boy earlier this year by slamming him head-first onto the floor.

Snow, 24, of Canastota, was convicted of first-degree manslaughter after a non-jury trial in September. The victim, Aadon Olmsted, never regained consciousness after the February attack at later died at a Syracuse hospital.

Snow, who lived with the boy's mother, said he loved Aadon and never intended to hurt him.

He apologized to Aadon's relatives, but still maintained his innocence.

"I know the last thing anyone wants to do is forgive me," said Snow, who told the court he was wrestling with Aadon at the time of the incident and accidentally dropped him before falling on top of the boy. "But Aadon has forgiven me. And God has forgiven me. I would never in a million years hurt any of my children."

Olmsted's grandmother, Colleen Charette, said she was disgusted with Snow's remarks and won't accept his apology.

"Jesse got 23 years. Aadon paid the ultimate price. And the rest of us got a life sentence," she said.

Judge Dennis McDermott said, in his sentencing decision, he also thought about all the 4-year-old children who will never meet Aadon when they start kindergarten next year, the kids who will never be his teammates and the girls 12 years from now who won't get to have a crush on the boy.

"There is no sentence that could do justice here," McDermott said, "But we do the best we can."